Sea Salt & Cinnamon prices
- Individual cupcake: $3.50 - $3.75
- Vegan dozens: $27 - $37
- Gluten-free dozen: $32 - $42
Woodworth Commons and Noyer Centre are starting a trial with Sea Salt & Cinnamon to provide cupcakes for students with certain allergies, like dairy.
Amanda Reninger, the founder of Sea Salt & Cinnamon, said she recently made a deal with Ball State Dining to begin a three-week trial to decide if her cupcakes will continue to sell in selected facilities. Reninger would like to expand to the Bookmark Café in Bracken Library.
The company doesn't have a storefront, but has been selling and creating desserts designed for those with celiac disease or dairy allergies or follow a vegan diet.
“It’s been nice to be welcomed into such a large entity and a large part of the city,” Reninger said. “I appreciate their willing to work with small vendors like me and I think it’s something they’ve always done really well.”
For the trial, the company delivered 12 dozen cupcakes to campus. Within the first week, dining sold three dozen cupcakes.
The business began after Reninger’s husband was diagnosed with a liver disorder. She said he was able to eat more comfortably with a vegan diet.
After making more vegan foods, she was asked to make gluten-free desserts by friends. She later began selling these items after forming her own recipes.
“Because we don’t have the overhead of a storefront and don’t have to keep that up, we’re able to do things on a much less expensive scale,” Reninger said.
Jordan Hartung, a freshman pre-med major, has been diagnosed with celiac disease. She said while the dining facilities have gluten-free options, they take longer to make.
“I don’t have time in between classes for them to specifically make a gluten-free meal,” Hartung said.
Hartung said she mostly makes her own meals or buys gluten-free items to satisfy her dietary needs.
With Sea Salt & Cinnamon, the gluten-free items would be prepared ahead of time.
Amanda Kruse, the wellness nutritionist of Dining, works with students who have food preferences or allergies.
Kruse said vegan and vegetarian items are sold in every dining facility, with Woodworth Commons as the “central hub” for vegan choices. Comfort Zone gives more options for students.
She said products are customizable and dining employees can adjust the ingredients.
There are around 50 students who have declared to dining they have celiac disease and 55 students who declare themselves vegans.
“With Sea Salt & Cinnamon, they have many products that are without ingredients some students can’t have,” she said. “Dessert items offered at Ball State may be without one type of product, but they may also have something a customer may not want.”
Sea Salt & Cinnamon also sells its products at The Caffeinery in downtown Muncie.
Frank Reber, owner of The Caffeinery, met with Reninger when he just opened his coffee shop. As well as offering her products, she had asked to use their kitchen. Now she rents a kitchen space in a senior center certified through the health department.
He said she quickly set up her business by organizing the paperwork and becoming certified for baking gluten-free and vegan products.
Reninger also created a Kickstarter account. Reber said he gave her advice and “provided an ear” for her during her process to develop her business.
The Caffeinery began selling Sea Salt & Cinnamon products six months ago.
Reber said even though he hired his own pastry chef for his goods, he still sells Reninger’s products because they cater to a different audience, which he “likes to include.”
“We don’t compete,” Reber said. “We collaborate.”
The company mostly makes cupcakes, but they have begun working on pies, cookies and breads. The company will also provide bread for a coffee shop in Upland, Ind., and can cater for weddings.
“For a while, we wondered if Muncie was ready for this kind of thing,” she said. “And I think they’re excited about it.”
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